I was browsing through the Sunday Times and came across what used to be one of my favorite sections, the Automobiles section. This was the part of the paper that would usually bring joy to my heart by presenting the various offerings of the auto industry in all its glory and splendor. Growing up in an era when bigger, faster, sleeker or fancier was part of the thrill of checking out the new autos, the auto manufacturers usually didn’t disappoint my adolescent expectations. But with gasoline prices approaching the unheard of mark of five dollars a gallon and with diesel fuel, a once cheaper alternative, already over that benchmark, I for one am looking at the automobile section with completely new expectations.
Cheap gasoline has gone the way of the Edsel and its demise should have long ago rung the bell for smarter more fuel efficient alternatives for the motoring public. Truly we have ourselves to blame since we seem intent on traveling with all the amenities of our living rooms only on wheels, as is the case with so many oversized vehicles (names will be withheld to protect the guilty) that seem to have been the sales leaders over the past few years. Our suburban penchant for four wheel drive and its inherent fuel inefficiencies has become almost an imperative and for what? Few of us use the off road features so common on most SUV’s. Ninety-five percent of our driving time is snow free yet we pay for the extra cost in fuel one hundred percent of the time in the event we need transportation in an crippling snow storm (when we are most likely not to be on the road anyway) how does this make any sense? In all fairness we have been lulled by the automakers into believing we need all this extra fuel burning weight because, as most people know, it’s the extras that make money for both the automakers and the dealers.
Well people we certainly fell for it all hook line and sinker and that is shame on us, but now I like most people are looking for a vehicle that will be both utilitarian and fuel efficient. If Thomas Friedman is correct in his recent editorial about the effect all this excessive use of fuel is having on growing the wealth of our most dangerous enemies, enough wealth to buy General Motors in three days worth of oil revenues, then as patriotic Americans we can longer turn a blind eye to our shamefully negligent use of fuel in our pitifully inefficient vehicles.
